Your Questions on Iraq's Election

In a week when there'll be a lot of speculation about the state of Iraqi politics and the fairness of the parliamentary election, it would be very useful to hear about the questions buzzing around your brain.

We have been reporting this story for so long our professional detachment may not be enough to avoid the danger that we're too close up.

We'll be reporting on polling data, security and the ambitions of different politicians.

But there may be many questions we won't think of: about daily life, how the voters have been informed, how they might have been intimidated and where they learn their loyalites.

Please tell us where the gaps are and we'll try to fill them in.

Write to us here.

Comments

[Bruce G. Burton]

I listen to your program all the time, but not necessarily all of each program, since it is broadcast here very early in the morning. Perhaps you have already covered what I'm about to suggest. Your focus on the security and political situations are understandable but surely there is another part of the story, as the poll you reported suggests. American and coalition officials say progress is being made. So I would urge you to check it out in a balanced and realistic way. Pick a representaitive set of indicators of basic economic and social activity --electricity and water service, schools and hospitals, public transit and air service, food supplies, agricultural output, employment, and the like -- establish a baseline, and then regularly report on progress or setbacks.